288 Reviews material. Eigler follows the historian Konrad Jarausch in detecting 'eine dreifache Vergangenheitsbewaltigung' (p. IO) atwork in the I99os, defining the three periods confronted asNazism, theGDR, and, intriguingly,the '68 generation. Where she has chosen her textswell isprecisely in theirdiffering,but complementary, perspectives on these eras: $enocak's Turkish origins, Schmidt's feministmagic realism,Maron's East German upbringing, andWackwitz's revolutionary youth 'im roten Jahrzehnt' of the I970s all suggest differentapproaches to the same legacy of post-war Europe. The individual chapters on these textsare thorough, ifat times a touch uninspired: a littlemore stylistic analysis might perhaps have helped to differentiate the various techniques with which collective and individual memory are evoked. The real strength of this study,however, isprecisely thecommon ground which these books share, their sense of 'Nachtraglichkeit' in the context of the post-Wende cultural climate. To each chapter is appended a coda which investigates the reception of the individual textwithin public discourse, and indeed the firsttwo chapters are devoted entirely to the 'Kontext offentlicher und familiarer Gedachtnisdiskurse' and the 'Kontext konkurrierender Gedachtnistheorien'. Here, for instance, Eigler helpfully analyses the difference in historical perspective between 'dieVater- bzw. Elternliteratur der siebziger und achtziger Jahre' and 'die neuen Generationenromane' (p. 25), or indeed the difference between the two opposing tendencies of these 'novels': 'Widerspriiche und Diskontinuitaten familiarerGenealogien' on the one hand, 'Verbindungen und Zusammenhange' on theother (p. 26). Although she leans heavily on theAssmanns' well-known work on cultural memory (see e.g. Kultur und Geddchtnis, ed. by Jan Assmann and Tonio Holscher (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, I988)), she succeeds in providing a succinct and stimulating appraisal of theprevailing cult of remembrance in reunifiedGermany. This study can thus be recommended as a thorough overview of the genre, and as an investigation ofwhy and how the 'Generationenroman' has become so popular in contemporary German literature.Although itcannot claim any particular originality or flair,itwill be a useful companion to anyone interested innot only the individual texts and thegenre, but also the cultural climate of post-reunification Germany. DLA, MARBACH AMNECKAR BEN HUTCHINSON German Literature of the I99OS and Beyond: Normalization and theBerlin Republic. By STUART TABERNER. Rochester, NY: Camden House. 2005. xxvii + 289 pp. $75; ?50. ISBN 978-1-57113-289-5. 'In the course of a thousand years', wrote A. J.P. Taylor in 1945, 'theGermans have experienced everything except normality' (The Course ofGerman History: A Survey of theDevelopment ofGerman History since i8i5 (1945) (London: Routledge, 200I), P. i). German history since then can be seen as the story of a nation struggling to find thatnormality, even ifithas remained contested and elusive. Stuart Taberner's timely and impressive survey ofGerman literature since i990 uses the idea of normalization ('the uncontested buzzword of the I99os' (p. xiv)) as a way into the firstcompre hensive study of prose literature of theBerlin Republic. He carefully distinguishes threekinds ofnormality: a 'latitudinal normality' rooted in multilateralism and shared Western values; a 'longitudinal normality' based on norms located in an acceptable German past, and what he terms 'ahistorical normality', which turns history into a globalized ornamental commodity. The volume interrogates theconstruction ofGerman identityafterAuschwitz, but also makes a plea forGermanistik to engage with broader theoreticalmodels, such as postcolonial and orientalist discourses. The discussion is structured around a series MLR, 102. 1, 2007 289 of readings of key literary textsbut gains much from the fact that these readings are contextualized within those largerdebates (political, economic, aesthetic) from which they have emerged. A firstchapter deals with the literarydebates of the I98os and I990S and examines theway the changing German book market has reacted to inter national demands. Key phenomena are outlined, such as the (somewhat patronizing) notion of the 'Frauleinwunder'-always more interesting than itsAnglo-American cousin 'chick-lit'-or the influentialmarketing invention 'Neue Lesbarkeit'. In par ticular, the drive to integrate international literary trends in the German literary market is set against the desire to inflect Anglo-American culture with depictions of supposedly local distinctiveness. Two substantial chapters examine the survival of the old Democratic and Fede ralRepublics into the discourses of the new era. In the first Taberner traces a line from thepost-Iggo works ofChrista Wolf andMonika Maron through questions of autobiography and...